Narawan Hotel

Very clean and comfortable & fairly quiet area. Excellent value at booking.com's price. a deluxe room (on another website) at 40% more than superior, was not such a bargain. The pool with jacuzzi was nice, and available at night! Multi-channel cable tv & WiFi worked well. There was a problem one day getting a new password. The manager-ess tried evading and obviously wanted me to politely forget it, but after I got annoyed, one of the guys in the office fairly quickly had the system working again. Apart from that one hiccup, the staff were all helpful and cheerful. Yo Restaurant, 150m directly across the railway line, has a good Thai/English menu with fresh seafood and fair prices. The big new Village Market mall with Tesco's is also close.

Breakfast is a problem when they're crowded. You may need to wait for a table on busy weekends. The fruit, bread, bowls, etc., are replaced after they run out. At least the eggs are cooked freshly (but not the sausages, which go from the fridge into cooling water - doesn't seem to worry the Thai customers at all). Generally the staff did a good job without a proper kitchen to work in. The beach is not in sight. If u don't like walking, hire a car or bike - ask at reception. The train whistles were not so bad, but ask for a room not on the railway end. My card number was processed without asking, so I didn't get a chance to pay cash. I'd happily return, out of peak season. Just 500m around a corner is good US-Italian restaurant, Terrace 91.